The Sisir Saras, an exhibition of colourful rural products, has begun here from January 3 with over 500 participants from 21 States and all the 30 districts of Odisha having displayed their products in about 274 kiosks.
The exhibition is generally attracting women a lot. Chanderi silk and cotton sarees and dress material of Madhya Pradesh, Varanasi silk, south cotton sarees and dress materials and phulkari from Punjab are mainly attracting the women to the fair ground. Madhubani paintings of Bihar and lamp shade from Puduchery are the special features of the exhibition this year.
Customers look excited at the exhibition ground as colourful dresses, jewelleries, bags and purses are available at one place. Some foreigners have also thronged the fair. Matina from Austria, who has come India for three weeks, said, “People are very nice and honest here.” She said to have bought some ethnic garments, jewelleries and bangles from the fair.
The exhibition also features a rich collection of wrought iron products and Tassar of Chhattisgarh, cane and bamboo works of Assam, woolen products of Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, jute products of West Bengal, Bhagalpur scarps, jute bags, lucknow chikan suits, sarees and dress materials, besides sarees and Dhokra casting etc of Odisha.
Milkhi Raghav, a weaver of Himachal Pradesh said, “Jackets ranging from `350 to `2,400 are available here in my stall. Almost all items are highly appreciated by the customers and hence have been sold. Especially, traditional cap of Himachal Pradesh priced at `100 are in great demand.”
Namita, a participant from a self help group (SHG) of Sundargarh district, said different types of spices are being sold by her group, which the customers like very much.
Another attraction of the fair are the various homemade pickles prepared from mango, lemon, and vegetables. Pickle prepared from dry fish, prawn and fish from Tamilnadu are also in high demand in the fair.
The objective of the fair is to provide a platform to the rural artisans and farmers to display their products, said an official here. The exhibition was inaugurated by Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra. Besides sale and purchase of various merchandises, the fair also organises a host of cultural shows, including dances like Odissi, Gotipua, Manipuri, Bihu, Kuchipudi and Chhau Nrutya etc.
The exhibition organised by ORMAS in association with the Odisha livelihoods Mission and the State Panchayati Raj Department will conclude till January 13.